The present invention relates to a device for digitally generating multi-color images onto photographic paper, such device having a light source, a liquid crystal display (LCD) and reproduction optics.
Conventional photography on the basis of silver halide film is increasingly supplemented by electronic components both on the recording side, e.g., cameras, and in the course of the subsequent processing of the film. For example, modern cameras may record additional information relating to the image such as the recording date, a greeting text or other information on the film. In this context, films have been known now for some time that carry a magnetic recording layer, where information from the camera can be provided to the film for subsequent film processing steps. Such a film and the corresponding processing procedure are disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,313.
Furthermore, it is often desired to print additional information such as greeting texts during the subsequent processing procedure, i.e., after the photographic development of the film, on or next to the photographic prints generated from said film. Increasingly it is also desired to output images in photographic quality onto photographic material directly from an electronic image source, e.g., from an electronic memory as is used in digital cameras, a computer or a scanner.
Increasingly, so-called index prints are generated in photo finishing processes. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,827 presents such a process. In this process, all images of a photographic film are scanned opto-electronically and compiled electronically to an image that contains all individual images of the film. The individual images are supplemented with corresponding information such as film number, image number, recording date, motif text, etc., and this image is then output as an index print. Photographic photo finishing methods distinguish between so-called offline index print systems and inline index print systems.
In a so-called offline index print system, the index images are separated from the remaining photo prints and output using a separate printer and subsequently assigned to the remaining images. In an inline index print system, on the other hand, the index prints are generated together with the individual prints of the individual images of the photographic film in one and the same device. This device then is capable of outputting both conventional images optically onto copy material and electronic image signals onto the same copy material. The main advantage of the inline index print system is that the order of the index prints generated already matches up with the images of the photos ordered, thus no longer requiring the extra effort of sorting.